“I should have retained your services 6 months ago,” was the comment a pastor not long ago texted me after his do it yourself campaign failed right before his eyes. Sadly this is not the first time I have heard this and it won’t be the last. I have a saying, “Should of, never did do nothing.” While that might be grammatically incorrect it is true none the less. Don’t let it be true for you!

Why do church leaders fail to get help? Let me lay out what I have found to be the two basic reasons why many leaders fail to get help.

1. They don’t know they need help. In the above instance that pastor felt what he was asking for was not large enough to get help. His “ask” was around 10% of his annual operating budget. How hard is that? Apparently harder than he thought as he did not raise what he needed. Now he has to go to Plan B and as of yet he doesn’t have a Plan B.

One reason many church leaders don’t know they need help is they think raising funds is easier than it is. So they proceed on an assumption that is false and wonder why the results were not what they had hoped for. It is not as easy as it once was and it is getting harder with each and every year. Any “ask” that is more than your average weekly offering amount takes time, effort and expertise to do correctly and thus successfully.

2. They don’t want to pay for help. This is probably the number one reason why church leaders do their own campaigns. Yet doing it yourself in most situations will mean you raise significantly less. I once texted a pastor, “You saved $18K by not having me on retainer last year. Your giving last year declined by $250K plus.” Two minutes after I texted him I was back on retainer for the next year and we increased his giving! You get what you pay for!

Everyone can benefit from help even the best! A few years ago when Peyton Manning was still with the Colts a friend of mine visited their training camp on summer. My friend told me about after each play Manning would have coaches gather around him reviewing his footwork, throwing motion etc. This is the year after he had won the MVP of the National Football League as not simply the best quarterback but the best player in the league. And, here he was getting help from his coaches. My friend said this, “The best always get coaching to get better!”

What about you? Will you be like the pastor who said he should have retained help or will you be like Peyton Manning? Get help now so you can avoid saying I should have!

Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach

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About the Author

As the founding partner of The Charis Group, Mark Brooks brings not only a rich background of ministry experience but also years of successfully helping Christian ministries raise funds for capital projects. His desire to better personalize the engagement that each ministry receives from their stewardship partner led him to begin The Charis Group. With creative, outside the box thinking, Mark has helped scores of ministries achieve maximum financial and spiritual results.